Submitted by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
Italy’s government is on the verge of collapse. Prime minister Matteo Renzi reiterated his position just yesterday, he will not hang on if a referendum he seeks does not pass.
Polls show the referendum will fail. Then again, polls have not been remarkably accurate recently, to say the least. On the other hand, this poll shows a strong preference to what is labeled “populism”.
Israeli politicians and community leaders have called for the resignation of a top Jerusalem rabbi after he said Jewish law prescribed the death penalty for gays. In in an interview with Yisrael Hayom, Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar said homosexuality was a “cult of abomination” which the Torah “punishes with death…This is in the first line of serious sins.” Amar’s comments were met with fury by members of the LGBTQ community and champions of civil liberties in Israel. Members of parliament have written to the the prime minister to complain.
After months of disappointments for Chris Christie, once one of the Republican Party’s brightest stars, the New Jersey governor was virtually assured a position in a Donald Trump administration. As one of the first big-name politicians to endorse the Manhattan billionaire, Christie had earned Trump’s gratitude the pundits predicted. And then everything fell apart.
While relations between Russia and the US may finally be on the mend following a phone call between Putin and Trump, in which the Russian leader expressed hope for a reset and renormalization of the current "unsatisfactory" bilateral relations between the two countries, treatment of Russia in Europe remains on the downswing. The latest example of this took place on Friday when military aircraft with Swiss fighter jets shadowed a Russian government aircraft over the European country, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Saturday.
During a telephone call with the NATO secretary general, Donald Trump acknowledged that the military alliance still has “enduring importance.” The President – elects comment will no doubt come as a relief to some European leaders, but it does runs contrary to his previous remarks. Trump raised alarm during his election campaign when he questioned whether the United States should automatically defend NATO allies in times of need. He said American support would depend on the willingness of those countries to pay their fair share for military protection.